My Losmandy G11 Gemini mount arrived today from OPT in California. It arrived in 4 boxes, but a smaller box inside one of these was sealed up with tape but empty. Upon assembling everyting I notice that I do not have a 12 volt power supply included in the shipment... only a cord to plug into a car 12 volt DC cigarette lighter jack.

Does Losmandy normally include a 12 volt power supply with the mount or are folks expected to purchase this separately... also I notice that the power supply to mount connecting cords appear to be non-standard so I can't just run to Radio Shack and buy a 12 volt power supply for this mount.

Maybe I've missed something obvious... but I hope someone can set me straight on this...

Losmandy does not supply a power supply. The power cable should be included that allows you to connect to a cig lighter port. You can purchase an AC-DC power supply from many places. Here is a good one, for a good price. Link

You only get a 12v cable. Most folks use a power tank or a jump start kit. You can buy an AC adapter from radio shack. As long as it is rated for 12v/5amp output. You can bring the cable to size the tip. Just make sure the tip is positive.

FWIW, AP only ships mounts with a cable. Tak, Celestron, Meade, etc, etc....All just a cable. Of course, Meade's come with a battery pack. Best to just chuck those in the trash for the bigger mounts, LXD's and up.

but really Losmandy should include a power supply or the mount is just so much dead weight... I view it as a stupid marketing decision...

Rick

I've owned lots of German EQ mounts. The only ones I've ever purchased that came with AC supplies were LXD650/750 series mounts. Vixen, AstroPhysics, Takahashi, Mountain Instruments, Celestron, and current Meade mounts all follow the industry norm of not doing so - as does Losmandy. I'm fine with that; I already have suitable supplies in the observatory for whatever mount is in there, and I use battery packs in the field.

Losmandy does not supply a power supply. The power cable should be included that allows you to connect to a cig lighter port. You can purchase an AC-DC power supply from many places. Here is a good one, for a good price. Link

Definitely THIS. These Pyramid power supplies are designed for the amateur radio community so they are VERY well filtered (your Gemini will be very happy with the smooooooth 12VDC from this box - some 'filtered' power supplies aren't filtered very well and provide 'spiky' DC which varies significantly from the nominal 12V at a rate of 60Hz. This is not a good situation for your motors....). I have the exact one shown in the picture which cost me about $70 CDN in Toronto... The price shown on the link is excellent - you should get it!!!

My Tak EM-200 came with a power supply in a blue plastic case (I think this is the standard Tak mount power supply for most models). I just think that if a mount comes with non-standard, weird looking power connectors or a cigarette lighter type power connector than it should really come with the mount since these power supplies are not that easy to find around town. I'm told Radio Shack has one, but I ordered one from Losmandy which I suppose is what most people end up doing anyway... would have saved some time if I'd known up front that I had to order one.... as it is I've probably lost the upcoming weekend for imaging/practicing with this mount.

But anyway, the mount looks stable and functional... a bit larger and beefier than I expected.

I think that it is quite wise decision. There is also life outside of US, in fact more outside than inside.The 110V 60Hz is not so common outside of US. So low voltage is quite unpractical if you need more power, the current is big and you need thick cables.

Yes, surely it is a great advantage if a mount power supply can accept an input of either 110 or 220 volts. I used to travel to Europe often (Finland is beautiful by the way...) and had to rely on a variety of travel power adapters to use the electricity there. Unlike the Euro which seems to have taken hold over most of Europe, the electrical plugs seem to be quite different for most countries even now... not to mention Australia and many other places...

I ended up buying the power supply directly from Losmandy although it was a more expensive solution.

Another thing I notice with this mount is that it didn't come with any instructions on assembling it or the Gemini system. The mount itself went together pretty easily, but I'm still puzzling over what appear to be a couple of encoders and a bunch of wires

Hopefully, I'll be able to deduce how to get it working... the manual I found on the internet refers to an instruction sheet supposedly indluded in the Gemini and mount shipment, but in my case no paperwork or disks were included... just the parts (I looked through everything 3 times)...

When I got my CG11 10+ years ago it came with a simple wall-wart supply that worked fine, though most often I ran off a 12V gel or AGM battery. As for tha Finnish guy complaining about 120V 60Hz, inexpensive universal input switching power supplies are becoming the norm. Check you cellphone or computer for example. The bottom line is, if not including a supply doesn't adversely affect sales, why would the manufacturer burden himself with the cost, albeit small?

I think I now have the power supply problem solved. I'm assembling the mount... what I thought were a couple of encoders are probably really the RA and Dec Servo motors (no instructions or manual in the box). Is it possible that encoders are not automatically included in the Gemini system? I am suspecting that this is the case and that they are not regarded as essential and not supplied as standard equipment... but I could of course be wrong...

Is it possible that encoders are not automatically included in the Gemini system? I am suspecting that this is the case and that they are not regarded as essential and not supplied as standard equipment... but I could of course be wrong...

They are an option for a few hundred dollars more. The Gemini controller can use them for clutch slip recovery if they are present, but it doesn't require them.

Yes, that makes perfect sense to me. Speaking of clutches... they aren't obvious to a non-Losmandy person like myself who has used only Tasco, Cave, Meade, and Takahashi mounts up till now. But I'm sure they are there someplace and I will start a search

Speaking of clutches... they aren't obvious to a non-Losmandy person like myself who has used only Tasco, Cave, Meade, and Takahashi mounts up till now. But I'm sure they are there someplace and I will start a search

Yes, they seem oddly placed to me as well. The DEC clutch is at the top of the counterweight shaft. The RA clutch is where a polar scope eyepiece would be on a Tak mount.

PS - why does the Gemini control box have a handcontroller telephone-type jack, but the handcontroller box attaches via a sort of computer COM port type connector?

Probably just a carryover. The original Gemini design used the standard hand controller with some internal modifications; that one used the RJ jacks because the jack was alternatively used for an autoguide port with the 492 controllers. Later Gemini units don't have the display on them and rely on the new hand controller (which has the display); they have a separate autoguide port.

Yes, that is most likely. I got this mount to put my Gladius 315 on. Initially I thought I could use an existing EM-200 mount I already had, but the length of the Gladius seemed to make that a bad idea... at least to me... although others said it could be done. Anyway, I'm very glad now that I did get the G11... I wouldn't want anything smaller or less "beefy" for the Gladius after seeing it on the mount. Its not just a question of weight... because the Gladius is a long telescope with a fair amount of weight at the far end. I'm posting a photo of it on the G11 to give you an idea of the size etc. Anyway... just waiting for the power supply to arrive now... then I can finally have 1st light after a year or so of waiting to get everything together...

Attached Files

PS - why does the Gemini control box have a handcontroller telephone-type jack, but the handcontroller box attaches via a sort of computer COM port type connector?

Probably just a carryover. The original Gemini design used the standard hand controller with some internal modifications; that one used the RJ jacks because the jack was alternatively used for an autoguide port with the 492 controllers. Later Gemini units don't have the display on them and rely on the new hand controller (which has the display); they have a separate autoguide port.

Hi,

I do not know if it is a carryover but it comes in quite handy for example if you are using Thomas Hiltons adapter in order to get a second RS232 port on the Gemini (in this case you replace the handpaddle by a PC using GCC)

Then you have the RS232 port on the gemini into which you connect your pC and use this port for driving the Gmeini with your planetarium program and then you can still plug in a handcontrol into the handcontrol marked port of the Gwemini and drive your Gemini GoTo unit manually. Nice, is it not ?

By the way, the encoders of the Gemini are at the end of the servo motors inside the Aluminum housing